DEFEATING OUR OWN OBJECT

     "If what I wish is good

     And suits the Will divine,

     By earth and hell in vain withstood,

     I know it shall be mine."

     If God has a message that He wants delivered, and you are to be the mouthpiece, you need not be discourteous or press your way in at a half-open door in order to do so. It is His truth, and if you keep in readiness He will surely give you an opportunity, or, should carnality shut you out, you will get credit just the same. Many times earnest souls make a mistake right here.

     Perhaps at a general gathering a certain theme was either neglected or abused and you longed to say something. No opportunity was given, so you resorted to the testimony service and there delivered a long exhortation. The result was that you either killed your influence, or gathered around you a certain class who saw things just as you did and then the authorities took it in hand and you were given no further opportunity. Doubtless had you remained low and as far as possible manifested harmony, you might have been given an hour and then you could have taken time and handled your subject in such a way as would have either enlightened or silenced everybody on the ground. But you took things into your own hands, got in a hurry and defeated your own object. The writer has done this very thing.

     Oh, that we could always sense the situation as Jesus did. He went up to the feast at Jerusalem, but not until it was half over (John 7:14) did He make Himself known. And even then, though He taught some in the temple, He patiently waited until the "last day, that great day of the feast," and then it was that He "stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink."

     Well, what did this mistake teach me? It taught me to measure my strength and not spring an issue or a fight until I felt sure I had enough force and cooperation to clean it up. It taught me that when the superficial side is very strong, one should not necessarily endorse it, or openly oppose it, but, as when bathing in the surf and a breaker is coming toward him, "duck under" and let it go over his head. To withstand it is to be knocked down and likely drawn under by the swift under-current. Fanatics will say that to do this is a compromise, but many times it is the best policy. Wesley seemed to know this secret when he penned that wonderful poem, one verse of which says:

     Oh, wouldst thou, Lord, thy servant glad

     'Gainst every known or secret foe;

     A mind for all assaults prepared,

     A sober vigilance bestow;

     Ever apprised of danger nigh,

     And when to fight and when to fly."